If you lost the equivalent of £17bn in a year (Forbes ) you’d probably want a bit of home comfort too. Unfortunately for Oleg Deripaska, the Russian billionaire, his appeal to have a £2.4 billion lawsuit against him transferred from London to Russia has been rejected. The long-running dispute between RUSAL owner Deripaska and Israel-based businessman Michael Cherney over a 20% stake of aluminum giant RUSAL is set to remain in UK courts. (Picture from www.kremlin.ru)

This is one of …

Now that the bulk of firms have released their results, we’ve got a picture of stalled revenues and falling profits. The UK’s top law firms have suffered a dramatic fall in profitability and a shrinking market in what’s mooted as the worst trading conditions for the profession since the early 1990s.

In the Magic Circle, revenue growth was slightly above the average at around 3% and profits fell a little less than the average but, in aggregate, the top …

A West London Coroner’s Court was told yesterday that Catherine Bailey, 41, killed herself near Richmond Bridge on January 10 shortly after texting her husband. Ms Bailey was a specialist in banking and commercial law at City firm S J Berwin. She had returned to work just before Christmas after the birth of her third daughter. The coroner told the court: “It is probable she may have been suffering from a degree of postnatal depression.” Detective Sergeant …

A week after our social mobility czar claimed the professions were too elitist , the legal headlines are filled with news of a compulsory aptitude test for the Bar and Law Society warnings to students about pursuing a career in law.

Keeping access exclusive or managing expectations?

As it happens the OFT report on Bar Standards Board’s (BSB) plan to bring in a compulsory aptitude test for entry to the Bar Vocational Course (BVC) has concluded that the test would have …

In the realms of M&A, this one has a touch more glamour than most. The tie-up between Porsche and Volkswagen has been occupying the fianancial press for some time now and it finally looks like the deal will go ahead.

Bloomberg reported yesterday that Porsche, the maker of the 911 sports car, agreed last week to combine with its larger peer Volkswagen, a company with which it has historic and family ties. Volkswagen and Porsche ended a fight for control …

There are big changes afoot in the legal world today. The credit crisis and ensuing recession have forced law firms up and down the profession to take a critical look at themselves and the challenge of Legal Services Act reforms lie in wait.

As turnover has stalled, headcount has been slashed, costs cut and some firms have even done an bit of restructuring. But whilst the downturn may have precipitated fundamental change and a proactive re-think for a few, Linklaters …

DLA has seen an increase in revenue for the 2008-09 of 16.2% to £584m. Average ­profit per equity partner also increased in both its UK and international ­practices by just under 1 per cent to £645,000.

Blake Lapthorn’s turnover fell from £50.7m to £47.9m, a dip of 2.8 per cent. The firm also saw a large fall in PEP from £204,000 in 2007-08 to £65,000 this year, a massive 68% drop.

And BLP has seen profit per equity partner fall …

A bit of Wikipedia knowledge Constitutional Law for you. The Master of the Rolls and Records of the Chancery of England, "Master of the Rolls" for short, is the second most senior judge of England and Wales, after the Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales. The holder is the presiding officer of the Civil Division of the Court of Appeal of England and Wales, a post which dates from 1286 (first recorded). Rizzlas don’t come into it, this post …

Preparation, preparation, preparation – the key to ensuring the lawyer’s duty to act in the best interests of their client is done. Whatever the outcome in litigation, shoring up arguments with comprehensive use of precedent surely serves to project one’s preparedness…?

Maybe not. Last week two senior judges complained that lawyers are using technology over zealously in their preparation by scouring the Internet for too many precedents. Result – the deluge of information is shedding little light on the …

Make sure you’re seated for this.

So the independent study entitled "Fair Access to the Professions" has called for more equal opportunities.

Singling out lawyers, it pointed to the fact that the majority are privately educated suggesting that 75 per cent of judges and nearly 70 per cent of barristers went to independent schools. The paper also offered evidence that the profession has become more exclusive recently leading social mobility czar, Alan Milburn, to conclude that the professions had a "closed …

Redundancies accompany results at Pinsents as their June consultation concludes. Despite a slight growth in revenues at Pinsents from £213m to £215m in 2008-09 a slim 1% change, the firm has seen a significant fall in PEP from £486,000 to £310,000, a drop of 36%.

The firm will see approximately 20 fee earners and support staff exit the firm as a result of its only redundancy round to date. Alongside the redundancy programme Pinsents has introduced flexi-working schemes including sabbaticals …

The image you see to the left was actually posted on an office notice-board somewhere recently (see passivaggressivenotes ). It is shall we say, of the moment.

This week the Daily Mail reported that a mother is suing a hotel claiming her teenage daughter fell pregnant simply from using a hotel swimming pool. Magdalena Kwiatkowska says the 13-year-old conceived after coming into contact with ’stray sperm’ in the water of an Egyptian resort. She is demanding compensation. It’ll be interesting …

Mayer Brown partner Joseph Collins has been found guilty of conspiracy and four other charges in connection with a massive fraud at now-bankrupt Refco. The fraud caused the 2005 collapse of commodities broker Refco Finance Holdings LLC. The Manhattan federal court jury ruled that longtime outside Refco counsel Joseph Collins was guilty in five out of 14 counts in the indictment over the $2.4 billion fraud, with nine counts declared a mistrial. The trial wasn’t all plain sailing however…

The …

The last piece of the magic circle jigsaw has fallen into place with the announcement of Allen & Overy’s results. A&O has generated a seven per cent increase in global turnover to £1.091bn for the 2008-09 financial year compared to £1.016bn the previous year. However, profits per equity partner fell 9% to £1m from £1.122m the previous year. Over 50 per cent of A&O’s turnover comes from outside the UK meaning results have been boosted by the fall in …

Generally the economic message appears pretty mixed at the moment; green shoots one day, dire forecastst the next. In legal circles the results dribbling out over the last few weeks have provided some surprisingly positive notes particularly following the redundancy bloodbath earlier in the year. However, layoffs have crept back in this week as Nabarro looks to further slash headcount, reawakening that sinking feeing.

Nabarro has launched a second redundancy programme set to affect 19 fee earners and business support …

Blame culture, it’s everywhere. If you’re not getting the blame at work you can bet your getting the blame as a lawyer for something. The ambulance-chasing variety seem to have managed to get the whole profession tarred with the compensation culture brush and blamed for nannying health and safety rules. Perhaps then by the same logic lawyers should be praised for the advent of the following snippets of entertainment provided by local councils cowering in fear of …

This might be one for you structured finance specialists – how do you structure a deal to sell your soul? In Latvia, the EU nation worst hit by economic crisis, apparently you can. Well it’s not quite selling your soul exactly, more providing your soul as collateral for a loan. Unemployment is soaring and banks have sharply reduced lending, meaning that small companies offering easy loans in small amounts have become more popular even if its one’s soul on …

Mixed results trickle through again this week…

Charles Russell has seen a sight fall in turnover of 3%, down from £71m to £69m but profits per equity partner have been hit much harder, falling from £368,000 to £235,000 in 2008-09, representing a 36%, decline.

Meanwhile, Hill Dickinson has seen fee income increase by 12% over last year from £73m to £82m. Despite this PEP fell six per cent for the same period from £312,000 in 2007-08 to £294,000 in 2008-09.

And Mishcon de …

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Linklaters have followed swift on the heels of Clifford Chance in releasing their 2008-09 financial results. Revenue at Freshfields was £1.29bn for the year and profit per equity partner came in at a solid £1.44m. It is understood that turnover was significantly enhanced by exchange rates with nearly 60 per cent of the firm’s revenue in euros or dollars. Handy. Linklaters just pipped Freshfields’ revenue though at £1.3bn but slipped behind on PEP with a …

You might not feel that way if you have just been laid off from your firm but when a publication with the credentials of the Wall Street Journal makes the point, it’s worth at least having a look. The issues facing law firms and their response to them in this economic crisis have been similar in the US and the UK, and the junior end of the profession has taken the brunt of the beating in both jurisdictions. In …